Australian Email Privacy Breach: August 19 2020

NSW police to investigate after leaking emails of people who complained about pepper spray at Black Lives Matter rally

Police say they launched an internal investigation after more than 150 people had email addresses leaked, but victims of leaks say they are yet to be contacted.

Source: NSW police to investigate after leaking emails of people who complained about pepper spray at Black Lives Matter rally | The Guardian
More reports from: The Guardian.

The New South Wales police say they have launched an internal investigation after more than 150 people had their personal email addresses leaked after complaining about the use of capsicum spray against protestors at a Black Lives Matter rally in Sydney.

Last week, Samuel Leighton-Dore received an email from the NSW police informing him that a complaint he had lodged about the use of force against protestors after a Black Lives Matter protest in June had been dismissed.

About an hour later, he received a second email from the same officer with the same letter attached. This time, however, the officer had also attached the personal email addresses of about 150 other people who had also lodged complaints.

The leak was first reported by Gizmodo, which was told by police that “at face value, it appears be an administrative error” and that they would “discuss with those whose email address was shared with the individual”.

But victims of the leak say they have still not been contacted about the privacy breach and are considering taking the matter to the NSW information and privacy commissioner.